A Promising Beginning
by 0-moonwind
Summary: I'm lazy with titles. This wasn't in the actual game, but I thought it just would be an interesting idea. It's set in the first chapter of the game, before GLaDOS wakes up. Android!Wheatley, Chelley if you want it to be.


"Just a little farther. It looks like it's just up ahead, come on."

He beckoned her with a waving hand, still looking ahead of him.

She moved forward, the Singular-Portal Device clutched tightly in one hand.

The old, broken down facility was much different from when she had last seen it. Plant life cascaded down from cracks in the walls, reaching for a source of light.

The glass windows were either completely gone or badly damaged, and fell away at the slightest touch.

"The control room should be somewhere around here..."

He trailed off as he glanced down at the metal catwalk they stood on, and his optics widened when he saw exactly how far up they were.

"Oh- god. I just looked down. I do not recommend it, were quite a ways up, we are. It looks like it goes down for bloody miles!"

She silently gave him an overly-exaggerated "Yes, I can see that" look.

She wasn't too sure whether to trust this android or not. He seemed friendly enough, friendlier that SHE first had when she first awoke in this horrid facility. She supposed she was just so desperate for a companion other than a cube, that she just accepted his rambling speeches and awkward personality as "Un-hostile," which was good enough for her.

He was a peculiar sight to see, his dark blue hair that was short but stubbornly stuck up like a frightened hedgehog, the unnaturally stratospheric blue eyes with black where usually there would be white, the metallic white exterior that was hard as nails but flexible. He looked like some strange human-like alien from Star Trek.

He wore a thin white jacket that looked very clean compared to the state of the facility, a light blue shirt underneath with a white Aperture logo on the chest. Slightly baggy jeans completed his outfit, and he was barefoot. He claimed he had shoes once, but he somehow misplaced them.

Short black wires wove in and out from each other, attached to the middle of his neck and stretched down to his upper back.

He was around six feet tall or so, only a little taller than herself, which was five feet and ten and-a-half inches.

She walked forward, moving past him. He was staring open-mouthed at the floor still. Heights didn't bother her much, she had learned the hard way to deal with fears a long time ago.

"Um... Well- oh! Hey, wait!" he called after her when he finally looked up.

She glanced back for a second, slowing so he could get closer.

"D-don't leave me behind! Please!"

She knew he was just being over-worried, but she gave him a look that said, "Why shouldn't I?"

His expression was blank for a moment, as if trying to read her face.

Finally his optics shrank and he spoke to answer her.

"W-well... Um... I-I- I don't know, really. I-I mean, you could get out without me. N-not that I'm telling you to! No, not at all! But, um... It-it's just that..."

He continued to stumble for words, looking sorrowful, then worried, then somber again.

She didn't trust this robot, at least, not completely. She probably would never really trust anything again. But for some reason, a rush of sympathy for the nervous android fell over her.

He continued to ramble, the subject suddenly straying away from the situation to another, than to another.

She smiled faintly in a teasing way, showing she hadn't actually meant it.

He didn't notice her look, his optics drifting away to look at something else, as if avoiding her gaze.

She turned around and proceeded to walk further down, the catwalk slightly swaying.

The sudden sound of metal hitting metal behind her echoed through the chamber, closely followed by heavy footsteps. His rambling had stopped.

She spun around, her eyes darting franticly from left to right. He hadn't made those sounds, she was sure of it. He was still in the same position as before, except his hands weren't in the middle of making an exaggerated motion while speaking. They were frozen in fear, even his eyes had stopped moving.

For a second she was worried a circuit had malfunctioned in his head or something, for he seemed unable to move. But her concern for him vanished when he drew in a panicked but quiet breath of air.

"... What was that?"

He looked at her expectantly, like he thought she had an answer.

But the look on her face must have showed, because he was soon in a complete state of absolute horror.

There wasn't much down here to make footsteps, unless there was another human, which seemed unlikely. And he had claimed that most of the other robots were a bit crazy or slightly evil in a way, but he was the only one that was functioning correctly at the moment.

So that meant...

She moved so fast it looked like a blur. She grabbed his left arm and pulled him away, speeding in the opposite direction of the sound at top speed.

"Um... Hey- WHOA! Hey, heyheyhey, where are we going? Are we- oh, okay. Keep going, keep going! You're doing great!"

She could feel his uncoordinated footfalls vibrate the catwalk violently as he struggled to not slow her down.

"Ah- oh. Oh. Ooohhh, dear god. Bloody heeelll- don't turn around. Whatever you do, don't turn around. Literally. Do not turn around. Keep running, keep running. Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod..."

Despite his fairly calm voice, she fought the urge to look behind her at whatever was chasing them and continued running.

The sound of harsh scraping sounds followed, growing louder by the second. Whatever was following them, it was getting closer.

His voice lost it's normal tone and became much higher, raising volume with distress.

"AGGHH! KEEP GOING! RUNRUNRUNRUN! IT'S RIGHT BEHIND US!"

What was behind them, exactly? It wasn't human, it was much louder and a human wouldn't make loud thumping and high-pitched chiming, similar to the sound of a pencil tapping against a hollow metal tube.

A loud growl-like sound boomed behind them, and her feet somehow found enough strength to pick up even more speed.

She stared ahead, racing for a door at the end of the catwalk. It was a white metal vault door, and was slightly open, so it wasn't locked.

It became the only thing in sight that wasn't a blur. Even his voice faded as she focused on the singular rectangle on the wall.

She felt her heart pounding, and her feet begin to hurt from the force of her pounding them on the catwalk as hard as she could.

He stumbled behind her, still struggling to keep up. Despite his longer legs, she definitely was faster. Much faster. And the fact he lacked adrenaline, or blood in general, wasn't helping either.

Once the door was in reach, she skidded to a halt and flung it open, nearly hitting her own head with the edge.

"WOAH!"

He yelled out behind, crashing into her and sending her stumbling out into the next room, beyond the door.

She lay sprawled on the second catwalk, that was slightly less sturdy than the one behind her.

She turned her head just in time, before he slammed the door shut behind and turned his back to it, pressing himself exhaustedly against it, and caught a glimpse of the robotic monster behind.

It was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.

Three gleaming red eyes showed, just visible, underneath an overhang of gray panels. It had spidery legs, shining silver in the light and nimble. They clicked as they hit the catwalk, and it's bulky body scraped against the rails on the sides. It was an over-sized personality core, with a mouth of spinning blades on the front and long claws on it's insect-like legs.

A gigantic, deadly, robotic abomination of a spider.

She felt herself sliding forward, realizing she was on a slightly titled area, and turned her head again.

The catwalk disappeared. The only thing in front of her were a few inches of the safe ground, then a bottomless pit beyond.

Her heart skipped a beat, she stopped breathing, slate-gray eyes wide in terror, and unable to move.

In a normal circumstance, she would have just scrambled away. But the shock from seeing the horrifying robot behind was still upon her, and she responded in the only way she possibly could.

She blacked out.

* * *

><p>The feel of unnaturally cold hands on her shoulders jolted her awake suddenly, drawing in a short but loud breath of air.<p>

At first everything was blurry. The scenery she could make out at the moment was a bright white light above, green at the corners and some gray beneath, and two blue pinpricks of light in the middle.

She was lying flat on her back, and she felt tired and scared. Her heart was pounding. What had happened?

Oh, right. The chase on the catwalk and nearly falling off to her death.

Wait, why wasn't she dead?

Maybe she was, maybe this was android hell, or better yet, heaven. She didn't believe in all that, but it was a comforting thought.

The stab of pain at her side, the one she had fallen on before, told her that she was still alive.

But where was she? This was a much different scenery from before.

The hand's grip on her shoulders tightened, then disappeared altogether.

Her vision returned, and she could see the room clearly now.

It had no ceiling that she could see, and sunlight drifted through above. It lit the cool air like a glistening drop of honey under a light, a beautiful shade of golden-yellow. But sadly, it was far-off. She was still underground.

Vines and leaves clung to old, paneled walls at the edge of her vision, and he was leaning over her at her side, eyes wide with worry.

They brightened when she looked at him.

"Oh- you're okay! Brilliant! I-I thought for a second you were dead. I don't know how you would have died, you look fine. But, I was still worried sick. Lady, you can really scare someone like that. Please don't do that again."

He grinned, but it wasn't genuine. He still looked scared like before.

She breathed out and sat up, looking around. How had she gotten here, exactly?

He seemed to read the expression on her face.

"You're wondering exactly where you are, aren't you? Well, I honestly don't know. But it's far away from that-that thing-" he shuddered as he tried to name the robotic arachnid,"and, well, when we went through that door, I turned around and there you were, about to fall to your death. I think I saw you move, but then you kinda fell asleep or something. Lady, you probably already know this, and you might have been tired, but falling asleep is _not _a good thing to do under that circumstance. So, well, I didn't really know why but I got really scared again and grabbed you at the last second. Literally. You were about half a second away from falling- oh, sorry. Um, that wouldn't be a pleasant thing to know, that you were moments away from dying and you weren't even awake. Well, I kinda carried you back here and waited for you to wake up again. See, I was really worried you were dead, because then I would be alone again. I-I had a few humans die on me before, and I didn't like it one bit. Not at all. I felt really bad for the next few days. And it's not a pretty sight. Well, one or two times they just fell to their deaths but sometimes they fell into some machine and just got completely torn up. I learned I do not like the sight of blood one bit, do I. Makes me fell sick. And robots can't get sick, I know, but it's a simulated thing. Don't know why they would just throw that in there, maybe for a good laugh, but it's just useless. Um, back to the point. You fell asleep, I saved you. Not really much to it, if I'm honest. But- hey- at least you're not dead!"

He looked away, and if he was alive she would have been sure he was blushing like hell. She didn't know why, but for some reason he seemed really embarrassed at the notion of saying he saved her life.

She was surprised that someone as timid as him would have been able to make a last-moment action like that, but it was better not to question good fortune. A wave of gratitude flooded over her.

She got to her feet and looked down at him, just barely smiling.

He silently gasped as he saw her face, for some reason surprised she was thankful.

He stared helplessly up at her, eyes wide with confusion. After a moment which seemed an eternity, he lowered his eyelids and his blue pupil brightened.

He grinned slightly, looking down at the ground, still rocking back and forth on his knees.

"F-for some reason, I'd thought you'd be angry. You know, you seem like someone who likes to be strong and all that and never need any help. I thought you'd be bloody livid, going 'Well, thanks. Now, will you get up and get going? You're so lazy,' or something like that. But I know you're not like that, should've known, I'm an idiot. An idiot, as always. I couldn't even flipping keep the life functions of a few test subjects going. I know I said ten thousand, but really, that was a cover story. Actually, there were only six in particular who I needed to take care of. Everyone else wasn't in too good of shape, and they died."

She looked away from him as he began to ramble, and got a better look of her surroundings.

There were lots of broken-down machines, most of the lights completely dead or a few flickering to life every now and then.

On a wall to her right, above her head an old and cracked window pane looked as if it was about to fall off altogether. Through it showed a small office-like room with a projector hanging from the ceiling, a faint image popping up on a whiteboard. It pictured a strange logo that was unfamiliar to her. Under the logo a name "Black Mesa" flickered a orangish-yellow. A few more words in the same orange color were underneath it, but the font was too small for her to read it correctly.

Black Mesa. Wasn't that Aperture's rival company? Hadn't GLaDOS mentioned it a few times before?

His voice jolted her back from the past and brought her gaping open-mouthed at him.

"Hey, I just realized this, but you've never spoken before. Around me, at least. Can you speak?"

She stared at him for a moment, her dark brown hair slipping in front of her face. She put it behind her ear with a hand and shook her head, then after a moment's hesitation, brought her hand up, palm flat, and waggled it from side to side.

He tilted his head curiously.

"A-a little maybe? Or do you just choose not to," he said the last sentence flatly, as it wasn't much of a question.

She nodded, narrowing her eyes slightly to show mock hostility.

"Um, what does that mean? Did-did I do something wrong?

She rolled her eyes, then placed her hand and on her chest, then made a fist and glared at something ahead of her.

"You are fighting someone. You... you are looking at an enemy... you are... doing something. Something about... mean, angry, what?"

She sighed silently, putting a hand to her forehead, and drew out a word in the air with her finger.

"H... E... R... H-e-r? Oh, Her! You choose not to speak to Her! Well, this may be a bit obvious, luv, but I'm not Her. I'm just plain old Wheatley."

She gave him a death glare, her expression giving the message, "I know that."

He stared blankly back at her.

"Umm, sorry, but why won't you speak to someone that's not Her? You don't want to talk around Her, okay. That's fine with me. I have no problem with that. But you could at least talk to me. I don't get half of what you're trying to tell me, sorry."

She hardened her look at him and mouthed, "I won't talk until I'm out of here."

His expression remained confused, one eye narrowed thoughtfully. He stared at her for at least a minute before he finally caught on.

"Oh! So, if we escaped, you would talk."

She nodded vigorously, eyes wide.

He grinned almost mischievously.

"All the more reason to get up there, then. I'm gonna hear that voice of yours sooner or later, whether you like it or not," he said teasingly, both eyes in slits and pupils wide.

She returned the look, mouthing the words, "Fine by me."

* * *

><p><strong>This is my second fanfiction (the other is not up), so go easy on me. If you see any mistakes or something you think I could improve, tell me so I can make it better next time, please. My only goal at the moment is to improve my writing. <strong>

**This never happened in the actual game, it's just an idea. The title is horrible, ignore that, please. I named this piece "A Promising Beginning" because I believe, if this happened, it would be what really got their friendship started. The moron saved the supposedly-mute's life. I promise the next Portal fanfic will be better. Hopefully...**


End file.
